VFW State Commander "Concerned" About Transparency From Pritzker Administration in LaSalle
Outside the Illinois Veterans’ Home in LaSalle, where 32 residents have died since November 1st in a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility. VFW State Commander Laurie Emmer criticized the Pritzker administration for “transparency problems” related to the outbreak.
The deaths of 32 residents of the LaSalle Veterans’ Home from a COVID-19 outbreak has raised the ire of one of the state’s top advocacy groups for veterans.
Veterans of Foreign Wars State Commander Laurie Emmer of Sycamore in northern Illinois says she was shocked at the rate of growth of the outbreak in LaSalle and what she calls a “concerning” lack of transparency from the Pritzker administration.
“We’re deeply concerned,” Emmer said. “We do ask questions. We are aware that this is under investigation. We’ll be closely watching the outcome of the investigation.”
Emmer says she spoke to Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Linda Chapa LaVia about the outbreak, but even a local liaison on the ground hasn’t been able to enter the home since March. Emmer says that has led to limited communication with residents of the home to help advocate for them.
“I’ve actually had to talk to others to find out more information about what’s going on,” said Emmer. “I have been concerned about the transparency. I hope that more will follow as this investigation continues.”
Emmer was surprised to see the home administrator fired earlier this week, saying the impression was that the home was run well. Emmer says she understands the struggle many elder care homes are facing.
“I know that in so many of our elder care homes, once COVID grabs hold, it’s very hard to contain it,” she said. “I was very saddened to hear it took hold as quickly as it did. That’s why I’m very eager to find out what happened. It was a very high rate of our veterans getting ill.”
Emmer says she is “deeply concerned” about reports from the state that staff were wearing inadequate PPE and using hand sanitizer that didn’t kill the virus.
“We know that they do have care providers there that do have the best interest in caring for the veterans there,” she said, but wondered aloud “How did this happen?”
Emmer says Governor JB Pritzker and his administration need to be more forthcoming.
“We put our family members in these homes and we want them to be safe. It’s not what we thought would happen,” she said. “We need to do a better job with transparency.”
Thursday, when asked again why the home administrator was dismissed, Pritzker declined to go into detail.
“I think we’ve been actually very transparent about the things that we’ve learned so far,” Pritzker said. “There’s certainly more that we can learn, but I want to make sure we’re keeping each of the residents as safe as humanly possible.”
Emmer says while even in a time of rising COVID rates, she believes the state is making the necessary corrections to keep the homes safe.
“I think now with the awareness, they’ve got epidemiologists in each of the homes,” she said. “Now that we’ve had this outbreak that they are now taking the precautions that need to be taken. So, now we can assure [families] that they are taking the precautions necessary.”
Most of the residents of the homes around the state have been unable to see family since the pandemic began. Emmer says many residents are having a difficult time with the approaching holidays, and she is asking people to send holiday cards to veterans at the four facilities around the state.
The addresses to each of the homes are below:
Illinois Veterans’ Home-LaSalle, 1015 O’Conor Ave., LaSalle, IL 61301
Illinois Veterans’ Home-Quincy, 1707 N 12th St, Quincy, IL 62301
Illinois Veterans’ Home- Manteno, 1 Veterans Dr., Manteno, IL 60950
Illinois Veterans’ Home- Anna, 792 N Main St., Anna, IL 62906